Usman Khawaja says the entire Australia squad knew about the 2018 sandpaper plot

Usman Khawaja has claimed that every player and staff member in Australia's 2018 touring party knew sandpaper was being used on the ball, a version of events Cricket Australia and former coach Darren Lehmann both reject

The former opener, who retired from international cricket at the start of this year, made the claim to Nine newspapers on the eve of the release of his autobiography, Sabr. "It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us," Khawaja said.

That account is at odds with the finding Australian cricket has worked from for eight years, which held that only Cameron Bancroft, Steve Smith and David Warner knew what was planned at Newlands.

Khawaja, now 39, also says he was never interviewed by Cricket Australia during the investigation that followed, despite sitting beside Bancroft in the dressing room throughout the Cape Town Test.

A claim that reaches back to Gqeberha

In the book, Khawaja writes that sandpaper was used before Cape Town, in the second Test at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha.

He describes light-hearted dressing-room talk about sandpaper during that match, after which Smith left the room and said he did not want to know about it. Bancroft, Khawaja says, then volunteered to use it in the first innings, when the ball swung sharply.

Khawaja also told Nine newspapers that South Africa were "far better" at working on the ball and that Australia were "trying to keep up with them". Faf du Plessis, South Africa's captain at the time, had twice been sanctioned for ball tampering.

Cricket Australia stands by its investigation

A Cricket Australia spokesperson said the governing body remains satisfied with the conclusions it reached in 2018.

"There has been a great deal of speculation in the eight years since the 2018 Cape Town Test, including extensive media coverage throughout last month's series in South Africa," the spokesperson said.

"During this time there has been the ongoing opportunity to present any relevant information, and this remains the case. All relevant information presented to CA to date has been properly considered and we remain comfortable with the findings of our integrity process."

Lehmann rejects the central claim

Lehmann, who was coach at the time and stood down after the tour, told ABC Sport's Summer Grandstand that he had no knowledge of the sandpaper and did not accept that the whole camp did either.

"I don't think everyone would have known. You do know ball tampering is going on because it's been happening for 150 years," Lehmann said. "It's just how it's being done, and how you would know to that extent? That's an individual case by case, to be fair."

He said the episode had left him unable to leave his house for four months, and that the book had taken the families involved back to a bad place. "Eight years after the fact and trying to sell a book is a bit different," he said.

Pressure returns to a 2021 denial

Khawaja's account places fresh weight on a joint statement issued in 2021, in which Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon publicly denied any knowledge that the ball was being tampered with. Cummins has since captained Australia's Test side.

Bancroft was banned for nine months after being caught with sandpaper down his trousers at Newlands. Smith and Warner were each suspended for 12 months, Smith given a further year-long ban from leadership roles and Warner a lifetime captaincy ban that was lifted in 2024.

Khawaja says he argued inside the dressing room for the squad to take collective responsibility rather than let three players carry it. Lehmann said he could not confirm or deny that, as he was not present.

A chapter written for three team-mates

Khawaja has been promoting Sabr for weeks, but the ball-tampering chapters were withheld until Saturday. He dedicated them to Bancroft, Smith and Warner, having watched the saga weigh on all three.

"Everyone in that team, one way or another, was affected and we still are affected by that to this day," he told ABC Radio National's Conversations.

He traced the culture that produced it to the win-at-all-costs approach adopted after the 2011 Argus Review, and said the fallout ultimately did the side good. "The best thing that came out of Sandpaper is we found humility again," Khawaja said.

Cricket Australia has given no indication that it intends to reopen the case.